The graft-versus-host disease is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in
patients who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Aiming at
contributing to the understanding of the role of myeloid and plasmacytoid
dendritic cells, and natural killer cells in chronic graft-versus-host disease,
we examined biopsies of jugal mucosa of 26 patients with acute myeloid leukemia
who had undergone allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Half of
these patients developed oral chronic graft-versus-host disease. Microscopic
sections were immunohistochemically stained for anti-CD1a, anti-CD123 and
anti-CD56. We calculated the number of immunostained cells in the corium per
square millimeter and applied the Mann-Whitney test. Results showed a
statistically significant increase of myeloid dendritic cells (CD1a+; p=0,02)
and natural killer cells (CD56; p=0,04) in patients with oral chronic
graft-versus-host disease. CD123 immunostaining showed no statistical difference
between groups. It was concluded that myeloid dendritic cells and natural killer
cells participate in the development of oral chronic graft-versus-host
disease.
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